Galatian recruitment in Pergamum

**benfras** · January 23, 2021, 10:10 AM

I’ve been having a look at John Koch’s atlas for Celtic studies, and there was apparently a Galatian tribe in the Troad, the Aigosages. Does the recruitment of Galatian units in Pergamum reflect this? Should they have (limited) recruitment of Galatian retainers or more Katusages? Apparently they were wiped out by the king of Bithynia in the 210s BC, but still are around at the beginning of the game.

**Shoebopp** · January 23, 2021, 04:29 PM

I'm not a historian, but I would assume that the Dynastic Administration in Pergamon with its 2 Galatian Colonists, 1 Galatian Retainer, and 1 Galatian Noble Cavalry is supposed to reflect this. You can also take advantage of the 1 Galatian Colonist from a level 3 Hellenistic Colony in Pergamon and Ipsus each. Furthermore you can build 2 more Dynastic Administrations over the course of the campaign, each with the aforementioned Galatian recruitment. These additional DAs represent the resettlement of Galatians in certain areas - you can resettle them in Korinth or Antioch, for example

**benfras** · January 24, 2021, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by Shoebopp

I'm not a historian, but I would assume that the Dynastic Administration in Pergamon with its 2 Galatian Colonists, 1 Galatian Retainer, and 1 Galatian Noble Cavalry is supposed to reflect this. You can also take advantage of the 1 Galatian Colonist from a level 3 Hellenistic Colony in Pergamon and Ipsus each. Furthermore you can build 2 more Dynastic Administrations over the course of the campaign, each with the aforementioned Galatian recruitment. These additional DAs represent the resettlement of Galatians in certain areas - you can resettle them in Korinth or Antioch, for example

I figure that this government reflects the settlement of Pergamum with Galatians from Galatia proper, as it is only constructible after you conquer Galatia/defeat enough armies of theirs they 'pay tribute' in warriors, I suppose. I think there might be the case to be made for a native recruitment at the beginning of the game for some Galatians in Pergamum because there were Galatians living in the EB2 province borders.

**paulus** · January 25, 2021, 09:41 AM

The Aigosages are subject of a particular story from Pergamene history (see Polybius Book V 77-78) where the tribe came into Attalid territory to serve as auxiliaries for Attalus I in his campaign against Akhaios (218 BC), but after an eclipse took it as a bad omen and Akhaios took them back to the Hellespont and may have given them lands to settle. So they were not in Pergamene territory at the start of the game, and came at Attalid invitation as a military auxiliary. We tried to reflect this in the structure of the game.

**benfras** · January 25, 2021, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by paulus

The Aigosages are subject of a particular story from Pergamene history (see Polybius Book V 77-78) where the tribe came into Attalid territory to serve as auxiliaries for Attalus I in his campaign against Akhaios (218 BC), but after an eclipse took it as a bad omen and Akhaios took them back to the Hellespont and may have given them lands to settle. So they were not in Pergamene territory at the start of the game, and came at Attalid invitation as a military auxiliary. We tried to reflect this in the structure of the game.

I see, thank you! My source didn’t mention their history beyond their end. Do we know if they were invited by Attalus or moved from Thrace to the Troad on their own accord?

**paulus** · January 25, 2021, 11:15 AM

They were recruited/invited by Attalos for his campaign against Akhaios. How exactly that worked is not clear, but we might suspect some sort of deal was negotiated through Tylis to bring the tribe over to augment Attalos' army.

**benfras** · January 25, 2021, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by paulus

They were recruited/invited by Attalos for his campaign against Akhaios. How exactly that worked is not clear, but we might suspect some sort of deal was negotiated through Tylis to bring the tribe over to augment Attalos' army.

Fair enough, thanks. I consider it peculiar that they brought their wives and children over as well, though, as they’re mentioned as not having been spared by Prusias. It must have been a whole-tribe deal in exchange for land. I wonder if the Galatians proper brought over their families as well during their first migrations or whether they were just warbands of men. Was the settlement of soldiers’ families normal (do we know?) for Galatian settlers in Egypt, and so on?

**paulus** · January 25, 2021, 10:26 PM

The limited evidence suggests the Galatians in Egypt did not normally come accompanied. But the original Galatian invaders did migrate with their families.

**benfras** · January 26, 2021, 05:36 AM

Interesting. Do we know what their social status was? Judging from EBII the Galatian colonists seem to be rather well-armored, were they provided with panoplies by the Ptolemaic state or recruited from the upper classes? If we know, of course. I've been meaning to get your (if I'm correct in identifying you) book on the subject, I've put it on my Amazon wishlist in time for Christmas, but I received another book on Ptolemaic Egypt instead, not that I'm complaining! I just don't mean to be peppering you with questions like this if they're easily answerable in text. The period I have my middling but growing expertise in doesn't have many good sources on government or military, but the socio-economic and political studies we do have are fascinating to me because of what little sources we have to go with, and as a Celticist the reception of the Gauls by classical people has always been fascinating (if much of the time uncomfortable) to me.

**paulus** · January 26, 2021, 11:00 AM

No, it's not a problem. So we don't have an enormous amount of information on the Galatians (and I don't get into a lot of detail on that particular question in the book anyway), but what we can say is that many of them resided in Alexandria, where it seems they were part of the city or palace guard. This would suggest a fairly high status. There is even evidence for Galatians several generations in Egypt with Alexandrian or Naukratian citizenship.

The state was in the business of providing *parts* of *some* panoplies, and which parts and for whom changed over time, but in the case of the Galatians (at least in the 3rd century) it's probably more about their pay (plus revenue from allotments) being sufficient to buy whatever equipment they wished.